As soon as Tom (Noah Wyle) finds out what has happened to Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and Alexis, he is out of bed and barking orders at everyone. His team convinces him to wait for 24 hours to determine whether or not they should go after Ann. Ms. Peralta (Gloria Ruben) tries to convince Tom to look at the big picture, but they get interrupted before they can figure anything out. Hal (or alien Hal-Drew Roy) takes Tom hostage and tries to go back to the Espheni camp.

Maggie (Sarah Carter) shoots out the tires of the vehicle and Hal is forced to take cover in an abandoned building with Tom as his hostage. Hal admits to Tom that he’s not his son, or at least something is controlling him. He wants to know everything about the device the Volm are building and will hold Tom hostage until he gets answers.

Maggie admits to Peralta and Weaver (Will Patton) that Hal has been having problems for a long time. Pope (Colin Cunningham) wants to blame Hal for all of the alien activity over the past few months and can’t wait to pull the trigger. The rest of the group wants to take him alive.

Ben (Connor Jessup), Matt (Maxim Knight) and Maggie want to get into the building and try to talk to Hal, but Weaver doesn’t want them to take the chance. Weaver dismisses the Berserkers because they are too trigger happy. Ben, Matt and Maggie decide to sneak into the building anyway.

In the meantime, Pope starts taking bets on who will survive the hostage situation. Weaver comes into the bar and doesn’t seem to happy about what Pope is doing. Weaver threatens him and says that nobody should try to change the outcome of the situation.

Hal is struggling against the alien bug, but is unable to break free from the situation. Maggie and Matt enter the room and try to talk him down. He turns the gun on himself, but Ben sneaks up behind him and is able to take him down.

The rebel Espheni have a way to get rid of Espheni bugs, but it hasn’t been tested on humans. For them to use it on Hal would be a gamble. Tom decides it is his only chance and agrees to do it. Hal pleads to Maggie and Tom that the bug is gone and that they don’t need to do the procedure. They stay strong and do it anyway.

The procedure consists of dropping these little black microbes into Hal’s face cavities (eyes, mouth, nose, etc.). Super gross! A silver liquid comes out of him and the procedure seems to work, but his heart stopped in the process.

Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) tries to save him and is successful. At the end of the episode, we finally get the old Hal back. He doesn’t remember anything from the past week. They conclude that Hal was the mole and that everything that’s been happening was done by him.

Tom can’t sit still and has to get back out there to save Anne and Lexi. He resigns to Peralta immediately and gives her the power to take over. He gives her all the plans to the Volm device and wishes her luck.

The episode ends with the entire Mason family heading out to save Anne and Lexi. Weaver sends them off and promises to look for them if they don’t come back. Hal leaves Maggie behind and Pope jeers at them as they ride out of Charleston.

Marina Peralta is sworn into office as Tom leaves.

What did you think about this episode? I’m interested to see how Peralta will handle the presidency and what Pope is going to do next.

In the last episode of Falling Skies, Pope (Colin Cunningham), Tom (Noah Wyle) and General Bressler were in a plane about ready to crash. As this episode opens we see Tom saving Pope just in the nick of time as the plane was blowing up. Unfortunately, General Bressler didn’t make it.

Flash back to Charleston and Ben (Connor Jessup) wakes up Hal (Drew Roy) and Maggie (Sarah Carter) to tell them that Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and Alexis are missing. Dr. Kadar (Robert Sean Leonard) fills everyone in on Anne’s discovery that Alexis is not human, but some sort of hybrid. Col. Weaver (Will Patton) wants to send out a search party immediately, but Ms. Peralta (Gloria Reuben) tells him that they can’t afford to spare anyone right now. She finally agrees, but she wants to discuss how to handle the baby if they do find them.

Back in the woods, Pope wakes up and yells at Tom for being too busy with the big picture to focus on finding the mole back in Charleston. This conversation has to wrap up quickly, as the Espheni start to scout the wreckage for survivors.

The search and rescue party stumble upon a body and Matt (Maxim Knight) wants to bury her.

In the meantime, Marina Peralta goes to meet with Dr. Kadar to talk about the Volm project. Now that she is in charge, she wants more details than Tom was willing to give her. She lies and tells him that Tom Mason asked her to come and talk to him.

Tom and Pope set up camp for the night and bond over the campfire. I forgot that Pope had two kids before the invasion. We get a little insight into both of their pasts. At the end of the night we learn that Pope still doesn’t trust Tom.

In the morning, Pope plays a joke on Tom and drops a snake on his head to wake him up. This starts a fight and Pope and Tom finally have it out, until they hear the Espheni approaching. To escape, they end up jumping into a giant waterfall. When they wash up on shore, Tom realizes that he has broken his ankle.

The rescue party finds Alexis’ blanket. Maggie notices that Hal has been acting weird all day (although we know that he knows what happened to Anne and Alexis). The trail dies and the search party has to head home.

Tom can’t put any weight on his ankle and he tells Pope to leave him. Pope tries to reason with him, but Tom seems to have given up hope. Tom calls him a fake and berates him until he finally leaves.

Dr. Kadar tells Peralta that the Volm device is built with way more power than it needs, basically overkill. This leads them to believe that the device is more than what the Volm have told them.

Tom hears the Espheni coming for him and it looks like he is a goner, until Pope shoes up and saves the day. Pope found a truck and is able to transport them both back to Charleston. He really is a good guy to have around in a crisis.

Tom wakes up in the hospital after two days and Pope is waiting for him. He decides that they are even after saving each other’s lives. His family comes to visit him, but they only have bad news when they have to tell him what happened to Anne and Alexis.

I’m not sure what to think about this episode, it was more about character development than moving the plot along. It will be interesting to see how Tom reacts to the news about Anne and Alexis. I also think that Marina could lead a major coup against Tom and the Volm.

When we last checked in on Tom (Noah Wyle) and the 2nd Mass, they were being attacked in Charleston by the Espheni. Tom decides that there is no time like the present to put his new prisoner, Lt. Fisher (Luvia Peterson) to good use. He wants her to see how the Volm have been helping them to fight back against the Espheni so she can report back to her leaders.

Hal (Drew Roy) decides that he wants to tell his dad about what’s been happening to him. Maggie (Sarah Carter) still disagrees with his decision and tries to talk him out of it.

Anne (Moon Bloodgood) is looking for answers about baby Lexi, especially after she says “I love you too mama.”

Tom is able to talk to President Hathaway (Stephen Collins) using a shortwave radio. They agree to meet to discuss joining forces.

Ben (Connor Jessup) is wrestling with becoming human again. Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) is able to remove his spikes, but he would go back to his original form with his asthma inhaler and everything. He currently has super powers and is able to help in the fight. Without them, he may not be able to help as much.

To meet with President Hathaway, Tom and Weaver need to commandeer the aircraft that Pope (Colin Cunningham) has been hoarding for his eventual escape. Pope’s condition – that he gets to tag along.

Anne goes to meet with Dr. Kadar (Robert Sean Leonard) to see if he can devise a DNA test. She asks under the guise of the harnessed children, but she really wants to test Alexis.

The plane lands at President Hathaway’s base camp and his men don’t take too kindly to Cochise and escort him to a holding area.

The Presidents have the meeting of the minds and discuss options about trusting the Volm. President Hathaway isn’t 100 percent convinced though. He wants to know why the Volm are fighting against the Eshpeni. We learn that they are fighting the Espheni for a special flower from their home planet. The Espheni destroyed the Volm’s home planet and Cochise doesn’t even remember it other than a picture in a file. We also learn that Cochise had a brother who died in battle with the Espheni. This was very convincing and President Hathaway agrees to move forward.

Things are progressing quickly with Hal. Whatever is inside of him starts to take over and push the real Hal out. When we leave him, it seems like this thing has fully taken him over. Hal talks to Maggie and starts acting normal again to throw her off the scent. He tells her that he doesn’t want to tell his father anything and she is perfectly willing to let it go.

Tom plans to stay with President Hathaway for a while to argue his case with the President’s men. He is able to talk to Weaver and Anne about staying longer. This is unfortunate, because now nobody is expecting him to be back for a while.

Dr. Kadar shares his results with Anne and we find out that Alexis has alien DNA, confirming what Anne has suspected all along. Dr. Kadar figures out that the DNA is from Alexis and wants to tell someone. Anne goes into full mommy mode and knocks out Dr. Kadar. She then goes back to get Alexis, drugging Lourdes in the process. She leaves Charleston with Alexis and is confronted by a Skitter with a harnessed child. She starts to freak out and then Hal appears and tells her everything is going to be fine (Creepy! I think not!)

The President’s men identify an incoming attack and everyone has to leave the base. Cochise ends up going with President Hathaway’s team and Tom and the others go in their own plane. General Bressler (Matt Frewer) does some creative flying to try to escape the attack but they end up crashing in the middle of the woods. We are left with a “To Be Continued” message on the screen.

What do you think will happen to Tom, Pope, Bressler and Cochise? Can President Hathaway be trusted?

Badlands begins with the Berserkers, Ben (Connor Jessup) and Matt (Maxim Knight) standing guard for an alien attack. What they didn’t expect was a sniper attack from what’s left of the United States Army. Unfortunately, Crazy Lee (Luciano Carro) is fatally wounded during the attack and never recovers.

So long Crazy Lee!

Anne (Moon Bloodgood) is running tests on baby Alexis to try and figure out what’s wrong with her. Before she can take blood, Alexis cries out “Don’t!” then Anne turns around to see her standing up in her crib. Definitely creepy. Lourdes (Seychelle Gabriel) catches Anne testing Alexis and clues Tom in to what’s been happening. Anne comes to the realization that Alexis may not be completely human.

Hal (Drew Roy) seems to be recovering his ability to walk, but realizes that something needs to be done about his alien implantation. He wants to run away and leave Charleston because he thinks that he is the mole. Maggie (Sarah Carter) convinces him to stay and keep the secret to himself.

One of the outcomes of the battle is that they capture Catherine Fisher (Luvia Peterson). This gives Tom (Noah Wyle) an opportunity to explain to her what has been happening and that the Volm are their allies. We also learn that the real president, Benjamin Hathaway, is still alive and leading his own forces against the Espheni.

Catherine Fisher

Pope (Colin Cunningham) is distraught over Crazy Lee’s death and questions Tom’s motives. His distrust has been a running theme for Season 3 and I anticipate that it will come to a head at some point.

Captain Weaver’s (Will Patton) daughter Jeanne (Laci Mailey) builds a “Liberty Tree” that the citizens dedicate at the end of the episode. This is a way for everyone to remember what they have lost and what they are still fighting for.

Liberty Tree

Tom uses this dedication to address the citizens of Charleston and let the people know that “Every single day matters and every single one of us matters.” He also reminds them that “the cost of freedom is high.”

Before they can finish the dedication, Charleston is attacked by the Espheni. This is how the episode ends and we are left hanging until next week.

Most of the episode focuses on the second anniversary of the alien attacks. The writers do this with the loss of Crazy Lee and spend most of the episode focusing on the character’s reactions to her death. I thought this was a nice balance from last week because they packed a lot of new information into the first two episodes. This one moved slower and it gave the viewers some time to process and catch up.